Barber Shop: Their Own Style of Comedy

If you take a look at the list of movies and TV shows releasing in the United States, and the ones that succeed, you will find that comedy dominates the list. People love to laugh, and as the world becomes more and more troubled - with global warming, terrorism, and crime on the rise - there is an ever-increasing need for films that distract people from these issues. Or help them deal with these issues in a way that does not send them crying with despair.

As the country has a large African American population, the number of movies catering to them, is also quite high. While there are a few dramatic and romantic movies in this space, a large number of them are comedy movies. And the actors who star in these movies are hugely popular and iconic figures in their own right. Think of Eddie Murphy who was fantastic in the Nutty Professor films, Norbit, and Beverly Hills Cop series. There is Queen Latifah who is almost equally popular for her comic timing and style. She has been in the Ice Age films, as the voice of Ellie, she has her own talk show, and she was also part of the Barber Shop franchise (the second film titled Barbershop 2: Back in Business).

Barber Shop has been a very popular series for its star, Ice Cube, who has multiple other comic successes to his credit. It is set in a barbershop in the South Side of Chicago. The first film introduced Calvin ( Ice Cube) who inherits a barbershop, a cornerstone of life in America at one time, from his father. He discovers the true value of his inheritance only after he sells it, as he realizes that it is a place for people of the community to bond.

The second Barber Shop film took the same premise and setting, and some of the same characters, and dealt with a new set of challenges. In this film, the antagonists were urban developers trying to do away with all mom and pop stores for a branded world. Ice Cube was joined by Queen Latifah for this film though Anthony Anderson (who has lately been seen in the hit TV series Blackish) who was in the first one, sat this one out.

He makes a comeback in the comedy movie Barber Shop: The Next Cut, reprising his role as J. D. This one also has Nicki Minaj. The story is about the increasing violence and crime in the neighborhood of the barbershop. Calvin and the rest of the crew decide to tackle it in their own way.